Executive Summary

Ordnance Survey (OS) has been mapping Great Britain since 1791. In its role as the national mapping agency, OS produces a range of products and services, including a base dataset, which are driven by the needs of the national interest and the demands of customers.

As a primary producer, OS makes a significant contribution to the national economy. This economic contribution is assessed in this report by examining the impact of OS as a purchaser of raw materials from suppliers, as a producer of final goods and services, and as a producer of intermediate goods and services which are used in a variety of sectors. The contribution of OS to distributors and to competitors is also considered.

A value-added approach is used to estimate the economic contribution of OS. While an analysis based on willingness to pay would have been preferable, such an exercise would be difficult and was not feasible within the time limits of this project. These tangible, measurable, impacts only partially reflect the economic contribution of OS. Consideration must also be given to the social gains resulting from the use of OS products. Such an analysis is, by its very nature, largely of a qualitative nature, but it is important to ensure that the monetary estimate deduced in this analysis does not detract the reader from the wider importance of OS.

Several key conclusions have emerged from this report:

• OS is an integral part of our national life;
• in 1996, OS products and services contributed to 12-20% of gross value added (GVA). This amounted to £79-£136 billion worth of gross value added (GVA);
• this economic contribution of OS comes, in the main, through the use of OS products and services as a primary input into production by several key sectors in the economy (e.g. utilities, local government and transport);
• the quality of OS's information, and especially the currency of the data, is the primary reason given by those interviewed for using OS products and services when alternatives are available;
• the use of OS products and services is developing in the economy, with technology opening up new markets and allowing existing customers to use information in new ways. The ability to combine geographic information (GI) with other digital information has become particularly important to many OS customers.

The static analysis undertaken here does not reflect the ever-changing role of GI in the national economy and the contribution which OS products and services make in enhancing productivity. An analysis of how the economic contribution of OS has changed over time would provide a fuller insight into its contribution to economic competitiveness.